Did you know that the Cardinals are on pace to score 799 runs? That's just 6 runs fewer than a year ago. They're also on pace to allow 787 runs, and that's only 153 runs more than last year. Um, maybe "only" isn't the right word there. I'm sticking to my story that the pitching talent isn't all that different from a year ago, but questions must be raised.

A couple months back I mentioned Taleb's book Fooled by Randomness, which is an evil, evil book for me, because it appealed to schadenfreude towards Wall Street traders who "blow up." How they blow up is interesting in this context though. According to Taleb, these traders make all kinds of money using models based on historical data. Then one day they walk into work, something happens that never happened before, and that day ends with an escort from security showing them the exit. Taleb thinks the storm could've been avoided with a broader logical analysis.

Tonight's game featured a thorough and diverse meltdown from Cardinals pitchers against a team that's playing for nothing. I'm starting to think the problem with the Cardinals pitching staff is the bland sameness to the group. The non-Carpenter starters (including neo-Reyes) have all thrown around 90 mph fastballs and have a predilection for the groundball. They don't really trust their stuff, especially when they have two-strike counts. The non-Wainwright relievers do more or less the same thing, while throwing a couple of miles per hour harder. None of the non-Wainwright relievers have (or had) killer breaking pitches, except maybe Tyler Johnson, but he can't throw strikes. While individually their average-ness might work, putting them all together sets them up to fall like dominoes as they did against the Phillies. Maybe it took three seasons for the rest of the majors to get the dominoes aligned, I don't know.

Changes will be made, even in August. While I still find the logic behind the Jeff Weaver acquisition sound, he's a long way from usefulness. The walk to the goon pitcher should seal Weaver's fate. Much will be learned of Jason Marquis when he goes Thursday. He's been in this position before, with the previous starters getting blitzed and the bullpen tired, and he's turned in some thoroughly ugly performances. Games like Thursday's are why I follow baseball in August.